Manny Pacquiao, boxing’s best pound-for-pound boxer, completed an astonishing rise through the weight divisions when he stopped Oscar De La Hoya, a shell of the boxer who was once America’s Golden Boy, at the end of the eighth round this morning at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The retirement by De La Hoya’s corner, after their fighter had sustained a ferocious beating, could clear the way for a dream match for Ricky Hatton, who is hopeful that he can secure an encounter against Pacquiao next year either at Wembley Stadium or in Manchester.

Although he began his career as a 7st 8lb light flyweight, 29-year-old Pacquiao was too fast, too young and too strong at the 10st7lb welterweight limit for 35-year-old De La Hoya, who was unable to pull the trigger on his own punches, just as Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, had predicted. He was also unable to avoid the incessant combinations which Pacquiao threw and, in particular, his straight left hand. Time and again this punch penetrated De La Hoya’s guard, which affected his timing and left him unable to establish any kind of rhythm. By round four, a swelling above his left cheek was impairing the vision in his eye and, increasingly, his hopelessness became pitifully apparent on his battered features. The Golden Boy had morphed into a tired, old man and the midget from the Philippines was a powerful and destructive nemesis.

“After the first round I knew we had him,” said Roach. “De La Hoya had no legs, he was hesitant, he was shot. I asked him at the end of the fight if he was all right and he said, ‘I’m okay, I just don’t have it any more.’ He’s right and he should retire now but that’s taking nothing away from my fighter, who fought the perfect fight. I thought Manny was close to having him out at the end of the seventh round and I told him it was his job to knock him out, so he kept up the pressure in the eighth and that persuaded their corner to stop it. He was taking a bad beating.”

For Pacquiao, a 2-1 underdog, the result was no shock. “I am only surprised that my trainer picked the correct round,” said Pacquiao, who has won world titles at flyweight (8st), super bantamweight (8st 10lb), super featherweight (9st 4lb) and lightweight (9st 9lb). “I said that speed would be the key to winning this fight and not size. I was still not confident after the first round and I was careful to see if he was waiting for a big shot, a counterpunch. I thought he was looking for one shot after the second round but I managed to avoid this danger and I hit him with a lot of punches in the fight. Oscar was my idol and, actually, he is still my idol but I always believed that I would win this fight.”

One of the judges, South Africa’s Stanley Christodoulou, gave De La Hoya the opening round – the only round which he won on any of the scorecards – but Christodoulou was misguided. Pacquiao set the tone when he landed a series of lead lefts straight through De La Hoya’s guard while he made the taller man miss with most of his heavy hooks. This remained the pattern in round two, with Pacquiao also mixing in a painful right uppercut, though De La Hoya rallied temporarily at the start of round three when he seemed to stun Pacquiao with a couple of straight rights and a left hook. But Pacquiao hit back strongly and hurt De La Hoya with body shots, the cumulative effect of which had worn down the Los Angeles native as the fight reached the middle rounds.

De La Hoya walked onto another straight left by Pacquiao at the end of the sixth, a round in which Pacquiao dominated to the extent that De La Hoya’s wife, Millie, could be heard crying for the fight to be stopped. This would have avoided the unedifying spectacle of the seventh when De La Hoya was subjected to the worst round of his career. Pacquiao landed 45 punches, most of them thrown with real power, and De La Hoya’s legs betrayed him. He was forced to straighten himself at one point by holding onto the top rope and in the final minute his legs almost went from under him without Pacquiao even landing a punch. All three judges scored the round 10-8 for Pacquiao, despite there being no knockdown. De La Hoya was overwhelmed by the onslaught and only his bravery kept him on his feet.

Pacquiao’s relentless pressure abated in the eighth but De La Hoya was still hurt towards the end of the round by another straight left. It looked as if his corner would send him out for the ninth but, mercifully, Nacho Beristain, De La Hoya’s trainer, decided that he had taken enough abuse and referee Tony Weeks stopped the fight before the bell rang to start the ninth round.

“Manny Pacquiao is a great fighter and he fought a great fight tonight,” said De La Hoya. “He deserves everything that he has accomplished in his career. When you face someone like him you know you will be in a fight. I worked hard and I trained hard but, as I have often said, it’s a different story when you get in the ring. My style is to go forward but he boxed me on his toes and waited for me to make mistakes. I didn’t have the style to stop him. As for where I go from here, we will see what happens.”

There can only be one sensible decision and this is retirement, for De La Hoya just does not have the tools to fight on and his various business interests, including his boxing company, Golden Boy Promotions, are making him enviable sums of money.

Hatton may get the opportunity to defend The Ring light welterweight title against Pacquiao. “My goal was to fight the winner and Pacquiao has proved that he’s the best fighter in the sport,” said Hatton. But the fighter who inflicted Hatton's only defeat in 46 bouts, Floyd Mayweather Jr, may scupper his plans. Currently retired, Mayweather Jr is believed to be planning a comeback for next year and Pacquiao-Mayweather could take precedence over Hatton-Pacquiao. Pacquiao's dominance over De La Hoya, for so long boxing's biggest ticket seller, has left him holding the aces. "I will decide in the New Year, with my promoter, Bob Arum, who I will fight next," he said.